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Preacher: Ross Macdonald Scripture: Exodus 11:1-10
Well, we're about to begin the Tenth Plague. We've spent several months now moving through these series of plagues, and this morning we have the announcement of the Tenth Plague. We won't actually get to the event of the Tenth Plague until next week with the Passover in Chapter 12, so we're getting to the real theological heart of the plague narrative, which is God's great deliverance of His people through the Passover.
And in some ways, all of these months have been preparatory, not only for Pharaoh in the narrative, each plague successively bringing him to this junction before us, but also for us as a congregation, preparatory for us being prepared to look at the Gospel through the glorious lens of the Passover night.
Very excited for next week. No one be sick next week.
It's okay this week, I hope.
Exodus Chapter 11, we'll do it all this morning, beginning with verse 1. The Lord said to Moses, I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward, he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether.
So we begin Chapter 11, plague after plague now stands behind us, and we have this phrase,.
One more plague.
The narrative is cuing us that we've come to the end of the road. This will be the plague that leads to the liberation of God's people. This will be the plague that finally breaks the calcified, cemented heart of Pharaoh.
No longer are we told by the Lord here, he will not let you go. Now we're told he will let you go from here. He will actually drive you out. Rather than trying to retain you, he's going to try to expel you.
The term for plague here is different. It's one of the things that sets apart this tenth plague. That previous nine plagues, a certain Hebrew term is used. Here, it's a different term entirely, nega, which is from naga, which is the verb to touch.
In the PL stem, that's to strike. So these are the strikes of God. He's now going to strike Pharaoh with a great plague, unlike any of the previous plagues. That's why there's a different term. It's the only time this term is used throughout the book of Exodus.
It's used once in Genesis as well, interestingly, and perhaps thematically, it's used in Genesis 12. There we read, the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarah, Abram's wife.
So perhaps here, the verb is used, a repetition of God striking the house of Pharaoh. The Lord says he will drive the Israelites all together, that is, completely or totally. Remember, he's always bargained for a way to retain at least some of the Israelites.
If not their children, then at least their flocks, or at the very least, I'll let you go, but not out of the land. Here, God says he's going to drive them out completely, utterly, all together. Not one hoof will be left behind, as we read last week.
Verse 2, speak now in the hearing of the people. Let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor, I'm sure the ladies love this, articles of silver and articles of gold. And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians.
We'll come back to that verse for application. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people. So we read now that even as Pharaoh, in his rage, is resisting the command of God, the people are slowly experiencing the softening of God's favor.
Articles of silver, articles of gold, all you have to do is walk by an Egyptian house, knock on the door, and politely say, could we have some of your gold and silver, please? And out come the handfuls, out come the, oh, don't forget what's in the cabinet, don't forget what's under the pillowcase.
They freely offer up these articles of silver and gold. And try doing that today. Try pressing the ring doorbell and saying, would like to have some gold, please? See how well that goes. Clearly, this is a supernatural act of God giving the Israelites favor in the eyes of their captors and taskmasters.
So what's going on here? Well, Psalm 106 recounts it in this way. He made them to be pitied by all those who carried them away captive. So God is the one who gave his people pity in the eyes of their captors.
There's a few different ways to look at this. On one level, God is establishing justice for his people. Not only this generation, which worked harder than any previous generation because of Pharaoh increasing the workload with less material, but also for centuries now, God's people have been enslaved to the Egyptians, brutalized by the Egyptians.
We've seen this excessive campaigns against them to force them onto subjugation, severe labor without compensation. Here, God compensates his people.
What are the back wages?
Just go knock on their doors. They'll pay up. I will make sure you have fruit for your labor. This is carried out in a different way in Deuteronomy 15, 13. One of the things God commands his people to do is when they release slaves, shows how different this form of slavery is from chattel slavery in the Atlantic slave trade, when you set them free, which you shall do, you shall not send them away empty handed.
And so this is something that God is establishing as a norm for even his own people. You shall bring out things to provide for them when you release them. Even as I made the Egyptians provide for you when I released you.
So that's one level, bringing justice to the plight and injustice of his people. On another level, it's God's intention for his people to plunder the Egyptians. And that's the summary that we'll come to.
So the Egyptians were plundered. And this is warfare imagery. God, of course, successively with each plague has been waging a campaign of war against Pharaoh. And with this 10th plague, victory is now in sight.
Of course, it was no match for the Lord. It was something like Desert Storm on steroids. Desert Storm was probably the easiest military conflict that's ever been waged in the history of the world. A few stealth bombers over Baghdad, and then we roamed right in.
Saddam's forces folded almost instantaneously. I grew up with trading cards of Norman Schwarzkopf. That's how successful we were in that campaign. So what do you do with the enemies? Well, in the ancient world, you plunder them.
There were expenses, there were losses. And therefore, we will plunder to bring equity to the campaign. And God is saying, since I have waged war victoriously, you shall plunder my enemies. You shall plunder the empire of Egypt.
So that's another angle. The last angle is this is a reiteration of the promise that God had made to Abraham. Remember, four centuries earlier, when God made his covenant, literally cut his covenant with Abraham, he brought him into the horror of this dark sleep and gave him a premonition of the fact that his own lineage would be enslaved for a time in a land that was not theirs, but God would bring them out into a land that he would show them.
And he says this, I will judge the nation whom they serve, and afterward, they will come out with many possessions. And so God is being also faithful to the promise he made to the fathers, faithful to the promise he made to Abraham.
The Israelites will come out with many possessions. Articles of silver and gold. Some of that gold is smelted and turned into the golden calf of idolatry. Some of that silver and gold is used to decorate the tabernacle.
Gems that decorate the breastplate of the priest, perhaps coming from some of these Egyptian households. Amazing to think of how God uses this very episode to such great effect in his own worship and in the false worship of his people.
All this to say, it may be a long wait, but God will do right in the end. It may not be all at the same time for the same generation, but God is always within history and surely inevitably at the end of history, putting everything to right so that there's no groaning, no questioning, no criticizing the judge of all the earth.
Matthew Henry says, God will right those who were injured, who in humble silence have committed their cause to him. None will lose at last when they suffer patiently. None will lose at last when they suffer patiently.
That is words of wisdom for many of our brothers and sisters in different parts of the world today. Trusting that even if it's not in their lifetime, not in their generation, God will do what is right on their behalf.
They can patiently endure and trust him. What about the ending of chapter 10? Try to be brief with this, but I think there's a good point. In chapter 10, Pharaoh says, if I ever see you again, I'm going to kill you.
You know, I've had it up to here with you, Moses, and with all of your plagues, and whenever you raise the staff, all of the evils that befall my land, if I ever see your face again, I'm going to kill you.
And Moses said, you will never see my face again. But here we are in chapter 11, and it seems like they're addressing each other. Moses is about to speak in the presence of Pharaoh. Well, the easiest explanation is that verses 1 through 3 are parenthetical to the narrative.
They're giving us information that was given to Moses. It's not assuming, therefore, that Moses had left the court of Pharaoh at the end of chapter 10. In fact, this parenthetical information, this is how Hebrew narrative is structured, doesn't have to follow chronologically.
It could have been given to Moses even before he entered into Pharaoh's presence at the beginning of chapter 10. So that's the typical angle that commentators follow. However, another possibility, first brought up by WHC prop, is that the expression, see my face, you will never see my face again, chapter 10, verse 29, is actually an idiom or a common phrase of royal audience.
You will never formally, officially appear before me. I will never allow you entrance in a formal petitionary way into my throne room. You will never see my face. It's a very common phrase. We're not so sure how common it is to the Hebrews, but it's contemporaneous to that culture.
Hittites, Akkadians have very similar language. So it's a good argument to be made. Now, why bring this up for chapter 11? Well, in chapter 11, especially when we come to verse 8, Moses says, all your servants are going to come bow before me.
And so here, it could be almost a way of poking Pharaoh with the irony. You said you will never have royal audience before me. You will never come like so many of my servants bowing before me to speak and address me.
And Moses is saying here in chapter 11, you're right. Your servants are going to come bow to me. And so I think prop has some good argument here on perhaps how chapter 10 and chapter 11 fit together. We get more details about the 10th plague.
Thus says the Lord, about midnight, I will go out into the midst of Egypt and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill and all the firstborn of the animals.
So we read the Lord will strike about midnight. Commentators point out this would have been a disturbing insight for the Egyptians. The night was already suffused with dread in Egyptian understanding of the spiritual realm.
Of course, their chief deity, as we remembered last week with the plague of darkness is Ra, the god of the sun, the god of light, the god of supremacy and protection and Egyptian might. And when the sun goes down, Ra goes down with it.
Ra goes to sleep in the underworld. And so it's a time of vulnerability in the Egyptian thought. Darkness, nighttime sleep, being figurative of death, speaking to the netherworld. And so other deities now are at play.
In fact, Ra goes to bed and now all his siblings and sons and daughters begin to fight and there's chaos in the midst of the night. That's ancient Egyptian mythology. How different the Israelites understand the true and living God who neither sleeps nor slumbers.
And therefore, Israel is always protected. And God says, I will go out in the midst of Egypt. You think your gods fight at night? Wait till you see what I do when I come out at night and there'll be no Ra to save you come the morning.
He's bringing a strong hand against Pharaoh. This is now the climactic plague we've been waiting for from the beginning. Exodus chapter three, God had told Moses before the plagues even began, I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go unless by a strong hand.
Again, chapter six, verse one, now you see what I will do to Pharaoh for with a strong hand, he will let them go. So this is the strong hand. Notice it's not the staff of Moses. It's the hand of the Lord.
God essentially says, Moses, you can go sit on the bench now. I'll take this. I will go out into the midst of Egypt. I will strike Pharaoh in the land. The 10th plague is unimaginably severe. The Lord says every firstborn in the land will die.
Every firstborn in the land will die from the least to the greatest, what we call in literary terms, Amerism. It's like saying from head to toe from the greatest, the throne of Pharaoh to the least, the slave, even the animals.
A cat just had a litter. The firstborn kitten will be dead. The firstborn of every living thing in the land of Egypt, except for God's people because of chapter 12 next week. Up to this point, the Lord is patiently but incrementally been showing his power, showing his sovereignty, showing his might.
And yet, slowly but surely and incrementally, Pharaoh has continued to resist, continued to defy the Word of God. And now, instead of repenting when the judgment was less severe, Pharaoh will be thrown into the midst of a severe judgment, a death that God had already warned in chapter 4 at the very beginning, before nine patient pleas for repentance.
In chapter 4, he said, let my son go or I will kill your son. Now the 10th plague has come and God's words will be fulfilled. Let my son go or I will kill your son. Pharaoh was, of course, considered a divine figure, the son of Ra, in fact, the son of the sun god, and specifically inhabiting the reign of Ra in a human form over the land of Egypt.
For the purpose of recreation in Egyptian understanding, Ra came upon the living king and gave seed to the next dynastic king so that that king would also be the son of Ra. And in the thought, during the day or when the king was alive, they were the manifestation of the god Horus.
When the king died, they were the manifestation, though dead, of the god Osiris. That'll come up, interestingly, in the next point. The key here is God is striking at the very heart of the theology of Egypt.
He's striking at the very heart of their idolatrous worship of a human figure. He's striking at the very cardinal doctrine of divine kingship. This is the end of the road for his dynasty. To strike a firstborn was always a calamity in the ancient mind.
This embodied their virility, their ambition, their aspiration. But to strike the firstborn of the king is to destroy the dynastic succession. There shall be, verse 6, a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again.
With this great cry, we also see an element of justice. Not only do the slaves finally get reward for their labor, but now God is changing the source of the great cry in the land. For centuries, the great cry had been coming from his enslaved people.
Now the great cry will come from the tyrants and the taskmasters. We had heard the same Hebrew term in chapter 3, verse 7. God heard their cry because of the taskmasters, verse 9. The cry of the sons of Israel has come to me.
I've seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. And so in the 10th plague, we see it's the oppressors who are now oppressed. That is the judgment of God. Again, something our brothers and sisters throughout the world, even this morning, have some hope to see.
Verse 8, but against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me saying, get out and all the people who follow you.
After that, I will go out. And then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger. So we've seen this before. God able to separate his people from judgment. There's so much more to that that we will unpack next week.
But it's assured with a promise from the Lord here. As devastating as this plague will be, God will protect his own. To such an extent as we read, what an image, not even a dog will move its tongue. Not even a dog will move its tongue.
Every now and then I watch police body cam videos.
I don't know why.
It's a good pastime every now and then if you're having trouble sleeping. And it's interesting to me. It's like you can't see that vest camp running down a street without at least a dozen dogs.
Barking.
As soon as there's any movement, especially at night, it's dogs everywhere just barking all at once. And look at this. This whole train of people are coming through the streets of Egypt and not even a single dog will move its tongue.
The Hebrew here, not even a dog will sharpen its tongue. That's an idiom for, you know, barking. But it also brings to mind the sort of sharpened nose of a dog, which looks a lot like the dog-headed figure of Anubis, sometimes likened to a jackal.
Scholars are debating whether it's a jackal or a dog.
It's ugly either way.
But that's Anubis. And what does the god of Anubis, the god Anubis, do? Well, he guards Pharaoh at night, particularly in the night of death. He guards the mummified and divinized Pharaoh. And so here, perhaps, there's a little irony as well, that even the god of the night will be unable to afflict my people and also unable to preserve your people.
It could be something that's there in the text.
We read this,.
All these your servants shall come down to Me and bow down to Me. I'm reminded of Isaiah 60, speaking of Zion as the place where now the Gentiles come and offer tribute to the Lord. The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing down to you.
All those who despised you will bow themselves at the soles of your feet and they will call you the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One. You think of Philippians chapter 2, and every knee that bows and every tongue that confesses, all put into this kernel here in Exodus chapter 11.
And then we read,.
Moses stomped out in great anger. Why was he angry? It's so interesting. Hebrew is a very evocative language and often the words denote imagery. And the word for anger is actually af, which is a form of the word for nostril.
So the idea is like when you're angry and you snort, you just breathe really heavy. That's the idea. It's like a snort of rage. And in the Greek, the translation by the Septuagint of that anger, it's actually thumos, which you could ask our brother Marty about.
He'll tell you what thumos means. Why was Moses so angry? For nine plagues in a row, he has witnessed the stubborn depravity of this man and all of the misery that this stubborn depravity has brought upon the people of Egypt.
Now, because of his stubbornness, because of his rigidity, because of his refusal to turn aside from his own way to the way of the Lord, he would bring death upon his household, death upon every household in his realm.
What a waste.
What a needless atrocity. What an unnecessary tragedy. No wonder Moses was frustrated, was angry. This is righteous indignation. He's furious at the stubbornness, the indifference and coldness, the blindness and stupidity of Pharaoh.
It enrages him to think that this man's hard heart could have these kinds of consequences. And that's what righteous indignation looks like. Now, I think we're in a circle where sometimes we have to be careful that what is truly righteous indignation doesn't devolve into something unfitting for Christians, where it actually becomes a disgust or a hatred for sinners that we're called to love and pray for and seek after.
We dwell in the midst of allies of many Tobias and Sanballats, if you're familiar with Ezra and Nehemiah, who often speak with the same concerns that we have, often seem to share the same values we have, but come from a very different source when it's against those people that oppose or even afflict us.
So we cannot devolve in that way. I'd say our temptation is perhaps not needing more righteous indignation, but being careful about righteous indignation. But the mass of Christianity, that mass lukewarm jello form of evangelicalism, probably needs to dial up some righteous indignation.
Because we look at the consequences of sin and misery in our society, and we should be angry like Moses. And I think it would do well to not have kumbaya circles in the midst of depravity,.
More or less.
So that's kind of a general two-pronged approach to the issue.
But I want you to notice this.
This anger of Moses, this righteous indignation, is not directed at God. It is directed at Pharaoh. He is not angry with the Lord, even though the Lord said from the beginning, I will harden Pharaoh's heart that I may do my wonders in the land of Egypt.
God said, I'm going to harden the heart of Pharaoh. And Moses has watched nine plagues of God hardening, in a judicial way, the heart of Pharaoh. And here at the ninth plague, after we've read God has hardened the heart of Pharaoh, Moses isn't angry with the Lord.
We don't find anywhere in chapter 11, God saying, Lord, none of this had to happen if you would but soften Pharaoh's heart. Where's the anger directed?
It's at Pharaoh.
It's an indignation that witnesses to the accountability and responsibility of Pharaoh. Moses is angry at Pharaoh's responsibility, Pharaoh's failure to repent, Pharaoh's refusal to act. Whatever we say about divine sovereignty, we can't miss this.
No one has a right to be angry with the Lord because of his divine sovereignty or providence. We hold the human responsible for their actions. For their state, for their decisions. Every man, every woman, every child must hold themselves responsible and accountable for their standing before the Lord.
We see that here very plainly in chapter 11. Alexander McLaren says it so well. Was not the accumulation of plagues intended as they were to soften? Instead, they caused a hardening. Let my son go or I'll kill your son.
And he doesn't do that with the first. And he doesn't do it with the second. And he doesn't do it with the third or the fourth or the fifth. Do you see the forbearance and longsuffering of God? He starts out with water turning to blood and some frogs and some bugs.
And now some cattle, there's some death and then some climactic effects upon Egypt's agricultural system. But look at the mercy of God. How much devastation could have been avoided if that plea for repentance was heeded at the beginning?
Now it's too far gone. What should have softened Pharaoh instead hardened him.
This is McLaren.
Does not the Gospel, if rejected, harden? Making consciences and wills less susceptible. You see what he's saying? The Gospel, the good news of God's grace in and through Christ Jesus. That's a message that's intended to soften hearts.
Unstop ears, open eyes. But so often the Gospel goes forth and it has the opposite effect. It blinds and it hardens. He says, is it not a savor of death unto death? Is it not what our fathers called Gospel hardened sinners?
McLaren speaking of the Puritans and Puritans were familiar with this. Not sin hardened sinners, no Gospel hardened sinners. Yeah, we've heard it all before. Don't waste your time. Don't waste your breath.
What is that?
A Gospel hardened sinner. We look around and we say, oh, if only they could just hear more of the Gospel. Well, they've heard so much. That's why they're in the state they are. One of the most tragic verses in all of Scripture.
Ephraim is joined to idols, leave him alone. Ephraim is joined to idols, leave him alone. Don't intervene. Don't preach. Don't witness. Don't evangelize. Don't pray. Don't intercede. Ephraim is joined to idols, leave him alone.
The same fire, McLaren says, that softens wax, also hardens clay. Whoever is not brought near by the Gospel is actually driven farther off by the Gospel. That's what makes these moments, these weeks, these times so critical that you're held accountable for everything you receive.
And if you're not being softened, you're likely being hardened. You will not stay neutral. That I can assure you. Verse 9, the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not heed you. Familiar refrain. But here we have an explanatory clause.
So that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh. That's a summary of not just chapter 11, but everything since chapter 4. Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.
Here we have the long-awaited day of reckoning, the long-awaited day of deliverance on the very precipice as we head to chapter 12. So that's what we can say so far as chapter 11 goes. Now application.
We want to circle back to verse 3. This probably isn't the most natural organic application flowing from the text, but I felt it was relevant and helpful. So this is my Spurgeon-esque approach to this week's message.
Spurgeon would often take a phrase and just run with it, and you're like, that was incredible and had nothing to do with the passage. Hopefully it won't be that divergent, but I want to come back to verse 3 and talk about the favor of the Lord.
I'm struck by this idea of God's favor. It's something that we don't speak about often. In fact, when I looked for commentaries and insights and articles on God's favor, it was rather distressing because I could only find it from, you know, the Copelands and, you know, the, you know, Haggans and all the basically the health and wealth preachers.
They love to talk about the favor of the Lord. It's hard to find good solid teaching on the favor of the Lord, so I thought we should give some attention to it this morning. We read in verse 3, the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians.
Behind that is the fact that the Lord is already showing favor to his people by virtue of his covenant promise to them. Because of his own promises to Abraham, the Abrahamic favor, he now shows favor to the seed of Abraham, and therefore he's showing favor to his people in the sight of the Egyptians.
All this speaks of the favor of the Lord. So three sections to this application. First, the content of God's favor.
What is God's favor? What does it look like?
Where is it found? The content of God's favor. Secondly, the effects of God's favor. And then lastly, the basis of God's favor. So content, effects, and the basis or the cause of God's favor. So we'll start here, the content of God's favor.
The first thing we have to say out of the gate is, with God there is no favoritism. With God there is no favoritism. This is a point made crystal clear by many passages. In fact, even for us to show favoritism is a sin.
James 2 .9, if you show partiality, you show favoritism, you commit sin. So just like some of the men here talk about doing security training, we need to do favoritism training. If someone from the select board walks in, if a local official walks in, we don't usher them to a special seat and bring them over coffee and fan them down with bulletins.
We say, you can sit in the back, and we give them a cold glance. No, we don't do that either. We just treat them decently, but without showing favoritism. No special treatment in the church of God. I remember one of my New Testament professors, who for a time was a missionary in Fiji at a school teaching.
And he said the local church that he was a part of in Fiji, they would get these ambassadors and dignitaries that would come through all of the time. And they would often come to this little church that was connected to this seminary.
And he said the pastor there was so good about keeping James 2 .9 in the forefront of the church. And one time this one dignitary had his team reach out to the church and say, I'll be visiting on Sunday, and I need special seating and arrangements, and this is what I need, and this is how much space I need.
These are the kind of things I need. And they'll say, I'm sorry, you either come like everyone else, or you don't come at all. But we don't show favoritism here. You'll get no special treatment from us.
That's Christianity.
That's recognizing that the greatest dignity that is given is not status in life, but being made in the image of God. That is Christianity in practice. And we need to make sure we're viewing one another and those who may come in the same way.
So with God, there is no favoritism. Galatians 2 .6, God shows favoritism to no man. Literally, in the Greek, which is just it's coming from the Hebrew idiom, literally, God does not receive the face of a man.
That's the idiom.
He doesn't receive the face.
Some familiar face, he doesn't get starstruck. Oh, well, of course you get special treatment. Same thing in Romans 2 .11. Same thing in Acts 10 .34. God does not show partiality, does not show favoritism.
So with God, there is no favoritism, but there is favor. Not favoritism, but he does show favor. And that is attested to even more in Scripture. I'll give you several examples. I could spend all day giving examples, but just a few.
Luke chapter 1, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you. And when she saw him, she was troubled and considered what manner of greeting this was. But the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary.
You have found favor with God. Mary found favor with God. In Acts chapter 7, Stephen speaking says, The Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, who found favor with God.
Just minding his own business, tending sheep. And oh, look at this, the favor of God. You will now be anointed as king over Israel. Even in Exodus, we see God giving favor to his people in similar ways to the early church at the beginning of Acts.
So in Exodus, we read, The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. In Acts chapter 2, we read the same things, that the people grew in sort of praise or accordance with all. And the Lord added to their number daily.
We see Luke chapter 2. This is really interesting. Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Jesus himself increased in favor with God and men. How is it that Jesus could increase in the favor of God if he's the eternally blessed God and the fullness of deity dwells in him bodily and he has the full measure of the spirit, or I should say the spirit without measure?
Well, Luke is actually pulling from 1 Samuel 2. It's the exact phrase in the Septuagint except for the name.
There we read,.
And Samuel increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. So Luke's actually doing something very differently as we head into chapter 2. But the point remains the same. God shows favor.
And God shows favor in interesting ways. Going back to Acts 7 for a moment. Speaking of Joseph, Stephen says, God was with him and delivered him out of all of his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.
It sounds a lot like Moses being given favor and wisdom when he was in the presence of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. We go back to Genesis 39 and we see where Stephen is pulling from the Joseph narrative.
The Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Now, I don't think Stephen misquoted Genesis 39. He's actually intentionally quoting Genesis 39 with Joseph receiving favor at the lowest ebb in the dungeon with the dungeon master.
And he's combining it with the triumph of Joseph at his very height, receiving favor from the king above him. And Stephen's intentionally intertwining these two passages in Acts chapter 7. Gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh.
I want you to notice something about the favor of God. With Joseph, we read the Lord was with him. With Joseph, we read the Lord showed him mercy. Now, the Lord is with us and the Lord has shown us mercy, but that does not mean that he will always give us favor in the sight of men.
He's with us, he's shown us mercy, but it does not mean he will always give us favor in the sight of men. The prison keeper is given eyes of favor, but not Joseph's brothers, not Potiphar's wife. It may not be that the favor of the Lord is always broadcast and evidenced by the approval or the favor of others.
Another problem with favor is we often connect favor with a lack of affliction. So someone pulls up in a Bugatti and we say,.
Highly favored one.
And then someone's, you know, stumbling along and we say, oh, poor, afflicted one. We usually connect God's favor with a lack of affliction. And we know that's what the health and wealth preachers do.
But in subtle ways, we do the same thing, especially with regard to ourselves. When you're experiencing troubling circumstances or trials or setbacks, you don't feel favored, do you? But it may actually be that God has favored you.
And that's why he's brought the circumstance, the trial, the path that he has put before you. It's on the way to experiencing more of his presence and the profundity of how manifold his favor may actually be.
But it's not unbiblical for us to at least begin, not end, but at least begin with assuming affliction is not favor. Affliction is chastisement. Affliction is punishment. In Numbers 11, Moses says, Lord, why have you afflicted your servant?
And why have I not found favor in your sight that you've put the burden of all these people on me? Now, you have equivalent phrases here in Numbers 11. Why have you afflicted your servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight?
You see, to be afflicted is to not find favor. We usually connect favor with a lack of affliction. But have you been reading Genesis all these years? Have you been reading Exodus with us all these months?
It's very hard to trace any part of the scriptures and see that favor equals a lack of affliction. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. Health and wealth preachers across the land, of course, promise people that God is going to favor them.
You just have to speak it. You just have to claim it. You just have to receive it. God's always wanting to bless you with earthly goods. And that's what they mean. Earthly goods, limited possessions, positions, acquisitions, better homes, better cars, better jobs, better health, a happier family, a growing income.
God may indeed bless people in some of these ways. I mean, many of us have that very testimony. We're more blessed than we should be in these very ways. But God's ultimate plan and purpose is not to pad our lives and our earthly desires and earthly ambitions.
It's actually to advance his kingdom. I came across, I almost don't want to mention his name because when I came across it, there was only like 35 listens. And I was like, I don't want to add to that number because it's garbage.
And I came across a song called Favor. And I was actually hoping it would be decent. And I was disappointed. So let me just read you the lyrics in the chorus. I'm walking in the favor of God. His grace and mercy has brought me this far.
So far, so good. I will believe all his words says about me. Lack and poverty is not my destiny. I'm walking. I'm living. I'm walking in the favor of God. Everybody say favor.
Favor.
Say favor. Favor.
Speak favor.
I speak favor. Over my life. Over my life.
Say favor. Favor. Oh, favor.
I speak favor over my life. Lack and poverty is not my destiny.
That's a worship song?
We're much better off with stricken, smitten, and afflicted, I think, as Christians. At least there's something of Christ in there. It's like you got grace up front and quickly get that out of the way.
And then it's all about me and not having lack. And I'm just claiming what I can get. But God's favor is often like a very precious, valuable gift that, for whatever reason, comes in some old worn cardboard box.
And if you look at the wrappings, if you look at the initial encounter of that favor by its appearance, you'll be so discouraged. Why is this happening? Why is God doing this to me? Or maybe I know why God is doing this to me.
I know he's punishing me. And it's actually time and patience and being led by his spirit to tear away that old worn, discouraging packaging and see the treasure of his favor and his promised presence.
For what it is.
God's favor, of course, does not mean we're free from hardship. It means he'll be present with us through hardship. We follow our own Lord as our example in this very way. Foxes have holds. Birds have nests.
The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. But by your right hand, Father, are pleasures evermore. By his spirit, we have this quiet confidence that emerges in patience and faith that somehow, even when he is against us, he is for us.
As the saying goes. Look at this from Psalm 30, verse four. Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of his. Give thanks at the remembrance of his holy name. His anger is for a moment, but his favor is for life.
What a beautiful contrast. His anger is for a moment, but his favor is for life. If you're a parent, you know exactly what Psalm 30 is saying. Anger for a moment, but it's like favor. You know, you're my kid.
We read it earlier, didn't we? Can a nursing mother forget her child? Even I will not forget you, says the Lord. Weeping may endure for a night. Joy comes in the morning. In my prosperity, I said, I'll never be moved.
Lord, by your favor, you made my mountain stand strong. Then you hid your face and I was troubled. What's going on in Psalm 30? There's all this exuberant praise about God's favor. A recognition that his anger is for a moment, but his favor is for life.
Weeping may come, but joy is there in the morning. And then he says, this is how I once lived and fought. I thought in my prosperity, I'll never be moved. You know, we're all eaten now. Things are good now.
What's that La Cresce on? Being broke made me rich. I'm really throwing out a lot of weird Spotify stuff for you guys today. Lord, by your favor, you made my mountain stand strong. Then you hid your face and I was troubled.
What happened in verse seven? Notice that we don't even have a cause here. Lord, you gave me favor. You made my mountain stand. I was so confident because of that, I said, I'll never be moved. And then what happened?
Where'd the Lord go? He hid his face and I was troubled. We don't have a cause. He didn't do something, say something. He didn't stray. He just said, I'm never going to be moved. Things are going really well.
And he had this confidence. I have the favor of God. And then he focused so much on the favor that he lost sight of God. And that happens so often. These demonic peddlers of health and wealth that go through the nations deceiving them.
Putting a tincture of grace in the gospel around a message of earthly gain. Dangling gain and earthly abundance in front of eyes so that you think it's favor from God, but then you only focus on the favor and you deny and forget God.
And if God is faithful to you, Christian, he will hide his face in times like that. I certainly can experience times in my life where I can say, I thought I wasn't going to be moved, but then Lord, you hid your face and I was troubled.
I was that deer panting for water that I was once drinking freely from readily,.
Enjoyably.
Where did your presence go?
In verse 11, he comes back. You've turned from me my mourning into dancing. In other words, you've shown your face upon me again. Who cares about prosperity or favor if I can't see you? If your face isn't upon me, that's the only favor I want.
You put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness to the end that my glory may sing praise to you. Not to the mountain that you made for me. Not to the prosperity, but to you. So when we're talking about God's favor, there is a place for sackcloth.
So that's the content of God's favor. What about the effects of God's favor? When you receive God's favor, or if you would receive God's favor, you should know that everywhere in scripture, you are encouraged by the Lord himself to seek his countenance, to seek his face, which is another way of saying to be earnest and urgent about seeking God's favor.
When we seek his favor, what are we doing? We're humbling our hearts before him. We're seeking him not for his benefits, not for what he can do, but for who he is and for what he has done. So we're not chasing down our desires through God, but we're putting aside our desires for God until he becomes our chief desire.
And so we seek in that way to love him with all of our heart and all of our soul and all of our mind and all of our strength. We seek his kingdom and his righteousness first, trusting everything else will be added to us.
That is what it looks like to seek after God's favor. And everywhere throughout the Old Testament, you find this phrase. It must have been a hundred of them in Genesis alone. If I found favor in your sight.
It's a way someone shows grace to a social better. My Lord, if I found favor in your sight. Now, master, if I found favor in your sight. Oh, king, if I found favor in your sight. And scripture is telling us that's how we ought to pray and seek to live each day.
Lord, if I found favor in your sight, please move in this way or please intervene here or please help me with this. Lord, may I find favor in your sight today? You ask a mom or a dad. If you have a family with multiple children, which one is your favorite?
What are you asking? Which child do you favor? Now, if you're a decent mom and dad and there's listening ears, you'll say, I love all my children the same. And then you'll kind of give a knowing glance and a wink and kind of motion to one of them.
But parents are supposed to say, I love all my children the same. It's communism, right? There's no favor here. Everyone gets the same slop on the plate.
No double portions.
But if you were to favor one, why would you favor one? Most likely you would favor the child that was diligent, helpful, attentive, obedient. Patient, thankful, loving and affectionate. If you have a child like that and the rest of your family is just, I didn't want that.
And they're unhelpful and they don't do their chores and so on. And I said, you know, do you favor one of your children?
Yes.
Yes, we do. Yes, we do.
So just run that through. And when you're asking, Lord, may I find favor in your sight? You're essentially saying the same thing. This is what it would look like for me to find favor in the sight of the Lord, to be obedient and diligent, working unto the Lord, serving him with a thankful heart, gratefully acknowledging all the things I have that I don't deserve, the things I'm spared from that I do deserve, loving him with sincere affection.
That's how we find favor. Psalm 119, 57, beautiful, heartfelt prayer. You are my portion, O Lord. I said I would keep your words. I entreated your favor with my whole heart. I want your favor, Lord. I want you to be pleased with me.
I want your face to shine upon me, not just for blessings that may come from it, but because of who you are, because of what you mean to me, because of what you've done for me. I'm seeking your favor.
Be merciful to me according to your word. I love this. I thought about my ways, and I turned my feet to your testimonies. Oh, that's beautiful. There's no way you can seek the favor of the Lord if you're not thoughtful about your ways.
Your prayer, may I find favor in your sight today, Lord, leads you to then pray, let me be thoughtful about my ways. Let me be thoughtful about the ways that have brought me here. Let me be thoughtful about the ways I may go from here after this prayer.
I thought about my ways, and so I turn my feet to your testimony. That means I'm not insincere. I'm not just going through the motions. Oh, Lord, bless the day.
Bless my work.
I pray for that sprained ankle.
Amen.
There's nothing routine about it. There's nothing distant or aloof about it. It's not just a ritual or a formula or empty words. We live at a time where prayer is mocked. Politicians just simply tweet, sending thoughts and prayers.
You don't send thoughts and prayers to other people. There's one that you pray to. And it's because you pray to that one that prayer is powerful and effective. It's because of who you're praying to that a prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
So it's not insincere. Lord, I've entreated, I've begged, I've sought for your favor with my whole heart. Not with part of my heart, not with half my heart, not with a double heart. My whole heart, my whole being, my whole life, my whole understanding, all of my energy and effort.
There's no duplicity. There's no duality. There's no hypocrisy. In John chapter 1, Philip finds Nathanael and says excitedly, we found the one who Moses spoke about in the law, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
Nathanael said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Nazareth is the Fitchburg of the Middle East.
No, I'm just kidding.
That's two weeks in a row I've been down on the burg. I grew up in Leominster, that's why, city rivalry. Nathanael said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, come and see.
And Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and he said, behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile. Nathanael said, how do you know me? And Jesus said, before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.
And Nathanael exclaimed, you are the son of God. Now, what did Jesus see? Well, we're not told. Something so intensely intimate between Jesus and Nathanael that though it's been preserved in Scripture for millennia, no one but the Lord and Nathanael understand it.
Isn't that amazing? Talk about the intimacy of the Lord. And it was, whatever it was, was so intensely personal that the exclamation from Nathanael was, you are the son of God. He knows exactly what Jesus was getting at when he said, I saw you, which must have corresponded to something Nathanael was doing under the fig tree, most likely praying, most likely in treating the favor of the Lord with his whole heart.
Because Jesus says, here's an Israelite with a whole heart. Here's an Israelite without duplicity. Here's an Israelite without a double mind or a double approach to life, without a whitewashed sepulcher on the outside and rawness on the inside.
Here's a sincere man, an authentic man. So what does Jesus see under the fig tree? He sees the heart. What does he find when he sees the heart? Does he find guile, deception, hypocrisy, duplicity, being something other than what you seem to be?
No.
You know, there are some people, some Christians even, who in their own stunted growth, in their own spiritual immaturity, much less even unbelievers, they simply assume everyone is more or less fake.
Everyone more or less is rotten and corrupt on the inside and simply going through the sham of hypocrisy, just like me. Everyone's duplicitous. There's no one who's sincere. There's no one who really are what they seem to be.
We had a, this is years ago, relatives, and speaking of families in this church, we're talking about how much the church was a blessing to us in our view of marriage and family and all that, and just unbelieving family members saying, well, it's just not, you know, it may seem that way on a Sunday, but that's not how it is.
It's like, well, yeah, we're all sinners, but no, they're not, you know, there's not some whole secret life on the other side. It reminds me of, speaking of police cam footage, see, it's applicable at times.
One of my favorite moments, I think, ever, police chased down this guy who was on the run. I forget what the cause was, but they grabbed him, and they put his name through, and it turned out he had a warrant.
They said, oh, we can't let you off, you know, you've got a warrant. He said, man, everybody's got warrants. And the officer said, no, no, most people don't have warrants. It reminds me, like, to the defiled, everything's defiled.
Like, everyone struggles with these things. Everyone lives this way. Everyone has these secret motives, these secret activities. Really, everyone's just like me. Yeah, to the defiled, everything's defiled.
But look at Nathaniel. No, actually, there are some people that don't have double hearts and don't have double lives and don't have double minds. There's some people that entreat the Lord from a whole heart and who are sincere, and the Lord sees that heart.
And he says, behold, a man without guile. If you were under a fig tree, brother, and the Lord, you know, come and see what's said to you, and you went running before the Lord, what would the Lord say of you?
And he said, I saw you.
What would he say?
Behold, a man in whom. Blank. What would he say?
Jesus looks.
Do you know that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth, looking upon the heart to see whether it is loyal to him, whether it will trust in him or trust in something else? Do you know that the eyes of the Lord run through this room this morning, looking upon the heart without any bias or a missing understanding, with perfect knowledge, more perfect than your self-understanding, and knows the state of your heart before him, the sincerity of your devotion to him, whether you will genuinely seek his favor or seek something else entirely different?
2 Chronicles 16, when King Asa is fearful of the Syrian invasion, and so he makes a treaty with Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, and the Lord sends Hanani, this prophet, to come and confront him. And he says, because you have relied on the king of Syria and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.
If you had trusted the Lord, I would have delivered you. I wouldn't have just preserved you and, you know, you would have experienced ruin. I would have given you victory. Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with many chariots and horsemen?
Yet you relied on me then, and I delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him.
Now, I don't know who I'm speaking to, but I can imagine there's someone who's saying, well, I just, I need the strength of the Lord and it's not there. I'm suffering and I'm struggling. And frankly, I'm falling and I just can't find the strength of the Lord.
Let me ask you a question. Are you trusting in the Lord? Because the Lord's eyes are looking at your heart to see whether it is loyal. And if it's loyal, he will show himself strong in you. So don't blame the Lord for your sinfulness.
When your heart is duplicitous, rather with your whole heart, seek him. Seek his favor sincerely. He will show himself strong on your behalf. Jesus looks and he doesn't want to find duplicity, but simplicity, singular unity.
They ate their food, we read in Acts 2, with gladness and simplicity in heart, praising God, having favor with all of the people. So that's the effects of God's favor. Last, the basis of God's favor, the basis of God's favor, the basis of any good thing that comes down from above is, of course, not from us.
It's not on us. It's not warranted by any effort. It's not merited by any labor. Every good thing that comes down from above from the Father of lights is by favor or grace. Funny that we have the specialized word grace, which is relatively common in the New Testament, relatively uncommon in the Old Testament when it's compared to favor.
But when the Hebrew term for favor, ken, is brought into Greek, they translated it as charis, which is grace. So technically, any time you read the New Testament word charis for a Hebrew mind, for a Jewish mind, they would have assumed the idea of favor, the word favor even.
When you're reading about the grace of God in which we stand, you can legitimately speak of the favor of God in which you stand. This is a really helpful way to bring some depth and substance into grace, which is so commonly used that we almost don't even know how to define it at all, which is always the case with commonly used words.
So the word favor speaks of God's grace. Of course, the basis then is God's grace to us in Christ, even before the foundation of the world. Every good thing comes down from God, not arbitrarily because He's holy and just, but rather through the merits of Christ, His Son.
We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. So Christ is the answer. Christ is the basis of God's favor. Ultimately, the Lord gives favor based upon His faithfulness to fulfill His promise, and as we know, all the promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus Christ.
Promised deliverance, salvation, or redemption is spoken of as the day or even the year of God's favor. We have that in Isaiah 49, Isaiah 61, when God promises to bring His people deliverance, He promises them a year of favor or a day of favor.
Jesus references that in Luke chapter 4, when He's beginning His ministry and He's preaching in the synagogue, and He says, the day of favor, the day of salvation has come. 2 Corinthians 6, we then as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain, for He says, in an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.
Behold, now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. Now, here's a phrase you'll probably never hear me say ever again. I think the NIV does a better job. You'll probably never hear me say that again.
Slap me upside the head if I ever say something like that again.
But I think they're right,.
Because they understand what's being quoted and the Hebrew behind it. For He says, in the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. And I'm telling you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of His salvation.
So we connect salvation, redemption, to the favor of God. Now, the basis for these Israelites, they are on the verge of being delivered, on receiving, as it were, a day of favor. And yet when they're brought to Mount Sinai, God will give them conditions, judgments, laws, commandments, and statutes.
He will bind them to Himself by a covenant He makes with them at Sinai. And this covenant has tremendous blessings held out for them, if they obey. But if they disobey, it holds out all of the curses of the covenant.
And He binds His people with both blessing and curse by the conditions He made at Sinai. That's Leviticus chapter 26 especially, which I'll read from. So let's begin with just some conditions and promises of blessings.
For obedience, for these people that are now on the verge of salvation, being brought out toward the land of Canaan by way of Sinai. Beginning in verse 9, Leviticus 26, I will look on you favorably, make you fruitful, multiply you, confirm My covenant with you.
You shall eat the old harvest, clear out the old because of the new. You've got to keep gobbling up. There's so much coming, you don't even have time to finish off the old before the new comes in. It's so abundant that you're almost forced to either be gluttonous or wasteful.
That's a weird image of blessing. I will set My tabernacle among you. My soul will never abhor you. I will walk among you, be your God. You shall be My people. Well, that sounds very familiar, doesn't it?
That's the promise to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. I am the Lord your God, that's Exodus 3, who brought you out of the land of Egypt that you would not be their slaves. I've broken the bands of your yoke.
I've made you walk upright. He goes on and on to speak of the conditions that will bring all of these promised blessings. And notice it's always connected to obedience. And therefore, disobedience is threatened with punishment.
And he speaks at length about the curses and the punishment. But I want to bring it to the conclusion. This is what I love about Leviticus 26. Of course, we do not stand in the place of the Israelites.
God has not made a covenant conditional to blessing and cursing based upon our obedience. That's why we come to worship and glorify and magnify Jesus, who for a time was born under the law, bore that conditionality on our behalf, that we receive the blessing and he received the curse.
And so at the very end of Leviticus 26, you get this beautiful gospel portrayal. Here's a Sinai covenant I make with you. If you obey, I will show you my favor. If you disobey, you will receive my judgments.
I will drag you out of the land into a captivity. So your life as the nation of Israel, as my favored people from all the world, began with release from captivity. But if you don't obey me, you're going right back to captivity.
Until in the fullness of time, one comes. The one who will read about next week in great detail in chapter 12, the Passover Lamb of God, who will perfectly obey and yet receive the curse. And that's why the conclusion of Leviticus 26 is for us.
But the Lord says, if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to me and that they've walked contrary to me and that I've walked contrary to them and I brought them into the land of enemies, if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they accept their guilt, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, my covenant with Abraham.
I will remember. I will remember the land. The land will be left empty by them and enjoy its Sabbath while it lies desolate without them. But if they accept their guilt when they despise my judgments because their soul abhorred my statutes, yet for all of that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away.
I will not abhor them. I will not utterly destroy them. I will not break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord, their God. For their sake, I will remember the covenant of the ancestors whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations that I might be their God.
I am the Lord. I think the most glorious phrase for my Christian ears is this. Yet for all that, yet for all that, for walking contrary, for decades of unfaithfulness, for half-hearted flagging obedience, for disinterest and coldness, for blindness, for stubbornness, for the symptoms of Pharaoh's own heart, and yet for all that, God will not cast me away because he is the Lord, my God.
That is the basis of his favor. The basis of God's favor could never rest upon me. Poor, wretched sinner that I am, if it rests upon me, there can be no favor with God. But if it rests upon the blood of my Savior, then I have favor with God without measure.
What could withhold his favor from me? What could separate me from his love? There is therefore now no condemnation in him. Where has your walk gone astray? Where have you struggled and stumbled? Where have you been disobedient and so your faith has dried up?
It's shriveled.
Where have you, like Pharaoh, disregarded, neglected, refused the means of grace? You don't even think about it. Where have you blocked up your ears to patient calls, much more patient than nine plagues?
Where have you turned away with closed eyes to his daily mercies that are designed to lead you to repentance? And yet for all that, he has not cast you away because he is the Lord, your God, and that is the basis of his favor.
Wisdom is one of the ways that the book of Proverbs says we find favor with the Lord. Wisdom that comes from his word, wisdom that begins with fearing the Lord. When we walk in wisdom, we walk in the favor of God.
And in Proverbs 8, wisdom, of course, is personified, as many things are personified in the book of Proverbs. But in Proverbs chapter 8 and verses 22 and following, as early as the anti-Nicene early church fathers, Justin Martyr, going back to the third century, recognized that wisdom spoke of that word, that logos, that wisdom from everlasting, from the beginning.
And they spoke of wisdom Christology. They saw this as evidence for the pre-incarnate existence of the Son of God. And here's what Proverbs 8 says. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the post of my doors.
Whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. Whoever finds wisdom finds life and obtains or receives favor from the Lord. Whoever finds Jesus finds life and receives favor from the Lord.
But he who sins against me, that's one of the reasons the church fathers picked up on this. You can't sin against a virtue like wisdom. You sin against a person. Whoever sins against me wrongs his own soul.
All those who hate me love death. How will you find the favor of the Lord? How will you receive the favor of God? What is the basis for that favor? It is Christ himself in whom the fullness of God dwells.
If you've found him, you've found life and you've found that favor with God. So what's the content of that favor in your life? And what are the effects of that favor in your walk? These are the things we must consider, brothers and sisters.
As we said from Psalm 119, we must be thoughtful about our ways and turn our feet to his testimony. Let me say this, and I close with this last word on the fullness, the sufficiency of Christ being the basis of our favor with God.
Reflecting on Colossians 119, it pleased the Father that the fullness should dwell in him. Paul Baines, relatively obscure Puritan, very end of the 16th century, beginning of the 17th century, but very important.
Paul Baines was one of the disciples of William Perkins, who's really considered the father of Puritanism in England. And actually, interestingly, Paul Baines, his ministry converted Richard Sibbes. Some of you probably have Richard Sibbes' Puritan paperback, so you've read Richard Sibbes' Valley of Vision prayers.
He was converted under Paul Baines' ministry. This is what Paul Baines said about the fullness of Christ. He says, this is very comforting. If there is such a fullness in Christ, then even though there is an abundance of sin in us and guiltiness, yet there is a fullness in him to remove it, a fullness of mercy to hear us cry out, a fullness of merit to make a full atonement for our foulest sins, a fullness of favor to prevail with his Father in any request, who is the favorite child of God the Father, his eternally blessed Son, who therefore can request and intercede for us as our faithful high priest.
If therefore there is such a fullness in Christ, don't be discouraged. Even though your sins abound, his grace abounds much more. They could not be so out of measure sinfully, saying your sin could never be more proportionately abundant than the fullness of Christ because your sin has limits.
Christ's fullness in the Father is without limit. Remember these metaphors from Scripture. I will scatter your sins like a mist. I will drown them in the bottom of the sea. He says the sun, by the reason of its force, it can scatter the thickest mist, but it can also scatter the thinnest vapor.
And the sea, by reason of its great vastness, can drown the mountains as well as the anthills. So Christ, by reason of this great vastness of favor that is in him, is able, yes, willing to forgive the greatest evils as well as the least sins for mercy.
Although it is just a quality in us, is in the very nature of God. Now that which is natural, there is no unwillingness to perform. The eye does not weary of seeing, the ear does not weary of hearing.
Therefore, though our sins never be so great in many, his grace is sufficient to bring pardon to them all. And so I entreat you, do not take this exhortation in vain. There is nothing more effective to heal a rebellious will and to cause a sinner to change their way, than to be fully persuaded that he will be received in mercy and all of his sins from the greatest to the least will be forgiven in Christ.
Therefore, let this fullness of mercy be a motive to come and see and behold and give ourselves wholly to Christ and serve him with perfect hearts all of our days.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you, Lord, and thanks is not a sufficient word. There are no sufficient words for your favor, for the basis of it in the blood of our Savior. Lord, it breaks our hearts that we fail him so easily and readily when he has never and will never fail us.
Lord, it rends our affections when we think of how patient and long-suffering you've been with people like us, sinners like us, who have received so much more than the vast majority of humans that have walked on this earth from the time of creation till now.
What a pitiful return to such boundless favor. Lord, in your favor, show us mercy. Give us greater and stronger, more heartfelt desires. Give us pure and whole hearts. Give us the heart of Nathanael, a heart without guile, a heart that earnestly entreats you, is thoughtful about our ways.
Lord, give us that kind of heart so that you may show yourself strong on our behalf. These things we ask in your Son's name.